Planning Board - Regular Meeting

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[Music] All right. Call to order uh for the uh planning board May 8th, 2025 meeting. Um do I have a motion for the adoption of the agenda? Motion. A second. First and a second. All those in favor? I. All those opposed. All right. Adoption carried. All right. Um then we have uh do I have a motion to approve the minutes from the March 11th planning board meeting? Second. Have a first and a second. Was that second? Steve. Gotcha. Thank you. All right. All those in favor? I. All those opposed. All right. Motion carries. Madame President is here. Continue on. Um, uh, do we have any public comment? I don't believe the April minutes. Oh, we have to do two. Oh, we had two. April 10th.

We we did not have the April minutes or the March minutes in the last meeting, so we had to add those to this agenda. Okay. So, the A So, you want to We didn't have the March minutes, so we're approving both from the February, correct? February meeting. Okay. Approval for the uh approval for the uh a motion for the approval of the I guess it says April 10th here. April 10th, but is that really should that be February? I don't believe so. It's last month's minutes. Says April 10th, 2025. So, it should be the the March and the April minutes that are getting approved at this meeting. Is there an incorrect date on that? You got it. I got it. You're good. And uh approve the April 10th, 2025 minutes. I have a motion. I have a second. Second. All those in favor? All those opposed. All right, cleared that up. Public comment. No one on the list. Okay, perfect. Thank you. All right, turn it over to Sean. Yeah, and we do have our new community development director, Jeremy, here, and he's up to speed on all these projects. So, if you guys have questions, he can give you some answers as well. But, uh, the first item we have today is the Colonial Heights major subdivision request. and Michael Grossclo representing Ryan Holmes and McKimman Creed is seeking approval for a major subdivision named Colonial Heights in the R10 residential district of Surf City and that's located at Pender County pens 4225-69-2162000000 and

4225-586870000 and that's known as the sniff Davis property. Uh, the proposed development spans two parcels totaling approximately 140 lots of 10,000 square feet each. After prior resoning proposals were withdrawn or revised following planning board feedback, the current submission complies with existing zoning and ordinance requirements. The plan includes substantial open space, pedestrian infrastructure, and provisions for environmental conservation and traffic distribution. Uh the background for the project uh this was initially submitted as a reszoning to R5 from the current R10 after August 2024. Uh that planning board feedback that led to a conditional resoning request and shortly after that application was withdrawn. Um this current plan is resubmitted as a byite major subdivision in the R10 zoning district consistent with Surf City's zoning map. Uh project details, lot size and layout. As I mentioned, 140 single family lots. Each lot's approximately 10,000 square ft. Uh there's 19.9 acres of preserved wetlands and tree coverage. And this does include 4.2 acres of open space. They do have an amenity center for fitness and wellness, three ponds, a clubhouse and community pool, and an HOA for maintenance and operation of shared spaces. Regarding the road networks, uh you'll see in your packets that they have connections to NC Highway 210, the future Applewood Trace development, and potentially Walter Jones Drive, which could be a connection to US Highway 17. Uh they also include traffic calming features and alternative traffic routing. Uh as far as the TIA, this is under our old ordinance, uh so it was not required. They assumed it would be below 3,000 daily trips. And what you do have in your packet is um they use

Turtle Creek for their projections to determine potentially how many trips they would have. Regarding street ownership, these would initially be private streets, but the developer is open to town ownership in the future. Regarding utilities, water, they will have public water loop from Applewood Trace to NC210. Uh the town is working on options to provide sewer access. storm water. They'll have on-site storm water retention planned and they do have applications to NCDQ pending for a storm water permit. Got sorry. Um for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, they'll have 5 foot sidewalks and 10ft multi-use paths over 5,329 linear feet of ped pedestrian pathways. and that includes an extra 1,215 linear feet over what was required. Um, it was addressed multiple times in the previous meetings the importance of connectivity. So, as I mentioned before, it does connect to Turtle Creek and the future Applewood Trace development. They will have 25 environmental buffer zone, 25 foot environmental buffer zones. Uh they'll have street trees planted throughout per the ordinance and large areas for tree conservation that will be integrated throughout. Uh the development is compatible with surrounding zoning. The adjacent town zoning is R15, R10, PUD, neighborhood business, and we have the conditional zoning district for Applewood Trace. Uh the county zoning is residential performance which allows residential, limited commercial and agra tourism. As far as the comprehensive land use plan, the future land use designation is mainland residential. Uh these supported uses are single family, two family homes, and town homes. Discouraged uses are highdensity, multifamily, and non-integrated commercial. There's several relevant policies. Policy

5.1. Alignment with long range plans. Policy 5.1, manage growth based on infrastructure environmental capacity. And policy 4.1.U you support for pedestrian bicycle facilities. So, the Colonial Heights subdivision plan does align with the town of Surf City's current zoning, environmental, and infrastructure regulations. It incorporates planning board feedback, complies with the comprehensive land use plan, and provides community amenities and pedestrian connectivity while preserving natural resources. Staff recommends approval of the project as submitted. And we do have representatives here today that can come up and show you their presentation as well. And David Price can answer any um utilities questions as well afterwards. Hello everybody. I'm Drew Hatcher. I'm a civil engineer with Mckim and Creed who is the engineer on uh Colonial Heights. Um staff did a great job. Um I think the only things that I would like to maybe double up on or or stress in this is that um for the Hey, thank you so much. Yes sir. Uh for the open space requirement um we are 42% of our project entire area is going to be open space. Um about half of that is wetlands and the other half is a mixture of uplands and amenity areas. So we're we're going way above and beyond what we had talked about previously. And then the the lot sizes of 10,000 square foot is a minimum. We have some home sites that'll be greater than that where where we can. Um so long as we're staying out of that 25 foot buffer around all of the environmental areas. What that 25 foot buffer means is that within 25 foot of any wetland feature, body of water, whatever on site, there's going to be no impervious, no development, uh to give them a buffer between those areas instead of, you know, clearing and grading right up to the wetland flag uh that would be put out there by our environmental consultant. Um and so yes,

uh what what has changed is essentially we've um taken feedback from you guys and from staff uh and comply now with the zoning uh as it is today. Um, so we're not asking for any changes or any variances or anything like that. Yeah. My question, um, with the amenities in the community, the clubhouse and all, are you going to do that upfront or is that going to uh, generally speaking, that's done as part of the first, uh, take down, the first phase of construction. And Michael, you can speak to that. Is that still the plan? Yeah, it'll start the exact same time the model home start. Yep. It'll go in with the models. Good. Because sometimes, you know, the developer waits to the very end and then something happens and eventually Sure. Yeah. Thanks. No problem. And as of now, you said the uh streets will be private and so are they I mean I'm assuming then they're going to be, you know, built to the town standards. Is that Yes. Yes. Okay. Per fire marshall Burton. It's one of the things we went over in TRC. Okay. Good. And then there's current water sewer capacity for the project. Yes, there is. And um you actually have the wastewater allocation uh score sheet in there and it should be right after the staff report. And I don't know if you want to hear from David Price, but he can come up and kind of give you the breakdown of where they sit with that if you'd like. But it is well broken down in that spreadsheet. Oh yeah, there it is. I think we're at 55 points. The point system. I said I think we're at 55 points. Think so. Price, is this the first project to use the uh point system? Will this be? This is the first project and it was successful. I'm glad to run down it. And just answer your first question. Uh uh Colonial Heights and the other project that you see tonight is going to be served by water and sewer. They would be the last for a while. They are closing us out. Uh from now, we do have other projects in the pipeline, but

they're not built yet. Uh but yes, uh they made their 50 points. They surpassed their 50 points. They got 15 points for being R10. Uh five points for being residential. They opted to put amenities on the multi-use path. So they got 10 points for that. Clubhouse. Uh so that's 15 points. They increased their open space by 10% greater than was required. So they gave them five points. They gave us dedicated rightaway. This was something we really wanted. Um that way streets can be built to our specification and dedicated wholly. They also agreed to uh 25 foot additional setbacks from all wetlands more than required. Uh and they're agreeing to build a additional 1,240 linear feet of multi-use path in addition to what they're already required to build. Uh that is how they got their state the points of 55. They only had to get 50. They went five over and I'm available for questions if you like them. You happy with the point system and how it worked with the first round? Yeah, first round seemed good. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. I make a motion to approve. Second with the staff recommendation. Oh, I'm gone. I thought you were taking got a first and a second. Can you Steve, can you tell me? I'm sorry. I missed it. Who? First, you made the motion. Steve Frank. Um, all those in favor. I All those opposed. I carries. Thank you.

All right, moving along. Uh, Anthony Rickiardi is seeking approval for a revised site plan for Oceanside Plaza. This is a smallcale commercial retail and restaurant development. It's located off Charlie Melan Drive and Tortuga Drive. This 1.553 acre property is a consolidation of two parcels including a.147 acre addition made in 2020. The revised plan updates a previously approved 2019 site plan and includes full compliance with Surf City Cities ordinances with improvements in traffic access, storm water control, landscaping and interconnectivity. Um, so the original site, it was initially 1.406 acres and this was approved in December 2019 for 13,500 square ft of commercial retail space. the expansion in 2020. Um a 0.147 acre strip was added to make it to that 1.553 total acres. Uh the purpose was for a storm water basin, extra parking, and improved access. This was annexed and zoned into the town into the yeah into the town in 2022. The topography and environmental conditions of the lot, it is flat, gently sloping. It was cleared in 2020 and there are no wetlands present. The proposed site is a 13,000 foot main building and a 1,000 square foot covered porch area. This is intended for commercial retail and restaurant use. As far as infrastructure, water and sewer connections are in place. Fire hydrants and trash facil facilities are included and architectural renderings align with town standards and those renderings are in your packets as well towards the back. Um pedestrian features. This would be 8,660 linear feet of sidewalks along adjacent roads and multi-purpose path for enhanced

walkability. Uh vehicular access and traffic. There um are two main entrances and three exits. There will be an exit an exit out into the roundabout at Charlie Medlin. Um entrance into Tortuga Drive and an ingress egress on James Avenue. See if I need to down. Let's stay on that one. Um, again, this meets the town requirement for interconnectivity. Uh, TIA was not required. Expected traffic under 100 trips per day. Access network is designed to alleviate congestion and distribute flow efficiently. Uh, sewer will connect to the traffic circle and it runs along the front of the site to the southwestern boundary. Water connects at James Avenue and extends to both northern and southern property lines and it fully meets Surf City's utility service requirements. As far as storm water management, um the permit requirements, more than one acre will be disturbed. Applicant will secure his NCDQ state storm water and sediment erosion control permits. Uh storm water will be retained on an on-site wet pond designed to manage 3.74 in rain event. Uh they do have a planning plan that involves street trees and interior landscape islands as well as semi-opaque shrub screening for parking areas. Uh context of the lots surrounding uh they're completely vacant currently. Uh the landscape has been designed with future development in mind. As far as the architectural design, it's consistent with Surf City's character and design standards and it's similar in style to nearby commercial properties. As far as aligning with the comprehensive land, we have policy 4.1.Q mit mitigating traffic congestion. Uh multiple access points and interconnectivity align with traffic relief goals and policy 5.1 I commercial

development uh supporting smallcale compatible commercial uses like restaurants and retail. The Oceanside Plaza project is a well-integrated updated version of a previously approved development that now includes enhanced infrastructure, improved access, and updated environmental planning. The site plan adheres to all relevant Town of Surf City ordinances and supports policies within the comprehensive plan. Staff recommends approval as submitted. And we have Mr. Charles Riggs here if he'd like to come up. No pressure. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead, Frankie. Go ahead. Um, so traffic will be able to cut through the parking lot and down James Avenue all the way to That is an opportunity. Yes. For egress into James Avenue. That that was discussed at TRC. Um, just to provide multiple access points if possible. That's the subdivision, right? Uh, correct. Yeah. All for years. It'll be at the council meeting. I guarantee you. surprised he's not here. Yeah, I'm surprised they're not here, too. Charles, you want to come talk about access? This is a this is a big point with design with Mr. Riggs. So, Charles Riggs, 52 New Bridge Street. Good evening, Charles. Hey, how's everybody doing? Um, this has been a concern since the beginning of this project. Um, I will say that if you look at the aerial photography, you'll see that the folks within that subdivision have been driving through this property to get to the roundabout for years. Uh, so I'm I'm just telling you that they're using this access already. Uh we realize that this cut through might create a problem for them and it's been discussed about maybe possibly some remedy to that uh speed bump or or

signage saying it's not a through fair if you understand but we feel like it's important to have interconnectivity. I mean they placed they placed their T intersection at the terminus uh up to the property line. So when they created the subdivision, they knew that was going to be a connection to the adjacent properties. We had the same issue, well, not issue with with Dogwood Lakes when they did that. I mean, they were teed out and Exactly. Yeah. that that was a comment that was brought up in TRC by Amy for Mr. Ricky Arty to possibly put a no through traffic sign out there. And we certainly don't object to that. I mean, anything we can do to create safety, we'll certainly do it. They're driving through there now without being is it paved? I know it's No, it's dirt. If you pull up, they're going right. If you pull up the the Pender County GIS and go through the different years, you can see the path. Uh, in fact, I use that to ensure this project would be able to get to the roundabout because there were there was talk that we would not have access to the roundabout. I said, well, we've been getting to the roundabout now for years. So, yes. So I believe everything else is in compliance, but we'll do what we can to for safety of the for the connection. Any recommendations would be appreciated for that. Thank you. That's a division should be here going that was grass egress. And then what one one question just just in regards to design is um for the architectural design. Do those buildings like how do they fall under the new ordinances? The ones we uh just actually under the old ordinance because this was submitted. Yeah. This is a this is a very old project. Okay. So it's still working under the old ordinances. Correct. Hasn't moved in. How would well just um what would be the differences in between

the old and the new that we're going just for kind of this is actually something we've been talking about. Yeah, it's uh they've essentially with the old with old and the new they'll both be they want it to conform to the character of the neighborhood already. So the neutral colors that we've instituted, beach colors on a lot of the buildings. Um there was a there's a new focus where the primary entrance of the building has to face a primary street. Um, we've also kind of done away with some of the requirements regarding the primary and secondary facade. We used to really spell it out if it was an out parcel or if it was non-out parcel, how many architectural elements you could have on one facade and you couldn't repeat those on the secondary facade. The new ordinance Becker when they wrote it decided to kind of alleviate a lot of the technicality and just make make it a little more simple. So that was something that we kind of looked into about a month ago to figure out if that was something we wanted to go back to or stay where we are. So yeah, if I could say one thing, it's not as stringent anymore as it was before as far as like spelling out five different architectural designs you need. You had to identify Mike knows you had to identify all the elements on your building on each side of the wall. Anyways, I not like you had to be real accurate. I'm I don't um mind the architecture on this building to be honest with you. I don't think it's um I think it's better than some other ones we've seen to be really honest. I'm not a huge fan of the the brown, but I mean as far as the actual design of the architecture, it's not linear straight across. Yeah. Yeah. The requirements in the old ordinance went from about two and a half pages to now about two paragraphs. So does that give you more leeway to as a under like TRC to suggest architectural designs or is that totally totally I think to still stay inside the requirements that we have um to be similar to all the other structures around but also it gives them and us some freedom to kind of move it

into something that both parties like that works for the town. Thank you. So Charles the business names that are listed here have they actually been secured? Sorry. The businesses that are listed, I'm not aware of the businesses being uh secure at this point. Which one do you want? I do know that Anthony intends on placing a restaurant. Probably a Wi-Fi pizza, but the other businesses I'm not aware of that. Okay. All right. Any more questions? We have a motion. I'll make a motion we approve as submitted or recommended. Approval submitted from Mike. I'll second. Second from Derek. Um Oh, we have we have a first and a second. Uh all those in favor? I. All those opposed? I All right. Thank you. Motion carries. Uh so general project updates. Uh not too much more to report this month from last month. Uh we do have Applewood Trace phase 2 that came across our desks about a week and a half ago. So that's going to be going to TRC this month. And uh as far as all the other projects that already highlighted on here, these are these are projects that we've gone over several times uh that are currently in construction. We've gotten a few calls about upcoming projects that we're trying to work out and when they submit a permit we can, you know, kind of share that more, but some have an issue here and there. So, we're trying to iron those out. But the only new submitt on the spreadsheet would be the Applewood trace phase 2. So, Mr. Price stated that this these two would be the last projects we'd see for

a while as far as because of the water and sewer. Correct. Yeah. So that's going to be a you know weight list of course I mean that's not currently covered under a permit like if you have our course with Harris ter they could build if we have something that's covered on highway 50 they could build the existing one like anybody that has an existing newly annexed pieces right thank you with that in mind going forward the board could recommend and city council could approve projects but then the developer would just have to shove it until capacity becomes available. Going to be a while. All right. Is that it? Any more updates or that? That's it. Pretty much covers it. All right. It's kind of slowing down. No, there's stuff coming in. Like I said, it's just uh everybody trying to get their ducks in a row and there there's there's a lot of new opportunities on Highway 50. I will say we've got a lot of calls about those properties. We almost had a reasonzoning right over here, but that um did not go through. So, we um we do have projects coming through. They just haven't gotten everything to us or filled out their permits yet. So, once we know for sure, we can share a lot more next month. It's a lot more commercial, though, right? I say we Correct. We do for sure have two reasonzonings that'll be in front of the board next month. Uh one city's welcome center. That's right. This past week, Kyle submitted a resoning application for that. Uh it's currently zoned G1 governmental use and the proposal is to change it to C1. Um I believe the council may be entering into an agreement to lease that building. Um the other one is the Medlin track that has been proposed for annexation. Uh this will be the zoning of the property coming from county's jurisdiction to the city's um off hand. I can't remember what they're requesting. I believe it's mixed use or Yeah, it's mixed. It's a mini Mayfair. Yep. And it'll be what's

their words? It'll coincide with the annexation when it gets to city council on their stage three part of that. So where is that land located? It's right up here on 50. Yeah. Is that conditional? That's that 9 acre track that was on the right hand side. No, it's on the left actually when you're going up. It's back behind the property that he owns on the road front. I don't I don't know. Yeah. Check. I'll confir I'll communicate that with you. But it's not conditional. I do not I can't confirm. Oh, gotcha. Just because it's one of the you please forgive me. Day number five coming to the city or town and um I will continue to say city coming from Jacksonville. Um I could probably log on and tell you but um it's I met with Renee yesterday and I uh there'll be some differences coming with the agenda when I get my hands on it to be able to prepare something that I'll present with Sean. Um, but I'm very excited. I haven't been this energetic in planning for a long time. I spent 15 years with Jacksonville covered in development and plans and um I look forward to being able to help this board and town council in uh managing growth um because it definitely needs it and I'm excited. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. All right. I have a motion to adjurnn. Motion Sally we've had second Frankie first almost 30 minutes all those in favor all those opposed meeting over Heat. Heat.

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